George waited, panting, standing outside of what was now Angelina and Katie's apartment. Before ten minutes ago, he had been spending a relaxing night with Alicia distracting her from her pile of work. George was about to argue that he thought homework stopped after Hogwarts when an owl came in carrying a letter from Angelina. It was an urgent notice, requesting his presence in the apartment immediately. So he changed out of his pajamas and apparated over.
Angelina opened the door wearing what George recognized to be Fred's old quidditch shirt and a pair of his boxers. She had a glass of red wine in her hand and an exhilaration in her eyes that confused George. When she summoned him here, he had assumed it was an emergency.
"George come in, come in… you won't believe – uhh you are just going to have to see!" Angelina said dragging him in the apartment with her free hand, almost spilling her wine.
"Angelina, are you OK?" George asked, bewildered.
"Yes…I don't know yet, "she said, rummaging through a mess of papers that were on the living room floor. He looked at the mess, it was not only papers it was boxes full clothes and miscellaneous objects. But he recognized it all, in fact he owned most of it himself. Yes, in a box marked Burrow was a pile of sweaters with the letter F sewed onto the chest.
"What is all this?" he finally questioned.
"I was talking to your mum the other day and she asked me if I had any of Fred's stuff that she could have. So I've been sort of going through his things for her." She didn't look up from her pile. George looked down at the collection of articles that summed up his brother's life. He watched it all sit there, lifeless and left behind; Angelina sat in the center of it all. "I found it!" She said motioning for George to join her at the foot of the couch.
She held out a fairly wrinkled piece of parchment with plans written on it in Fred's trademark sloppy handwriting. George felt a lightness pull at his heart.
"it's a plan for a new piece of joke merchandise." George gasped.
"Gee, it took you long enough" Angelina teased "He must have written it before – he calls it a dreamcicle. I think It's like a Popsicle that puts the consumer into a temporary state of experiencing their innermost dreams." She stared at the sheet longingly as if it had the capability to bring back the writer.
"It's genius!" George ran is hand through his long, ginger locks. "It's unrealistic – it would take a great witch or wizard to pull it off but it's probably the best idea he ever had. Ruddy git – he would leave us here to do the dirty work." He chuckled to himself but Angelina stared him seriously, reading his face. He became nervous and turned away from her gaze.
"So, we're doing it then?" She asked cautiously.
"We have to give it a try don't we?" George answered honestly. A part of him felt as if he was betraying some sort of tradition by working on a new product with Angelina but there was another (more prominent bit) that felt as if Fred was there somehow. Or at the very least, if they could pull this off it would be the living memory of Fred that George so longed for.
"I'll get my old school books!" Angelina said excitedly.
"Good, you do that and I'll get the shots." George chimed.
"Sounds good," she agreed halfway out of the room. "Wait, excuse me Weasley?"
"There is not a product in that shop that was not created without Fred and I being at least a little bit sloshed." George explained with an ornery grin. Angelina stared at him, mouth open.
"How is that even possible?" she gaped.
"It opens up the brain, allows for ideas to flow freely." George confessed with a cheeky smile. She shook her head but eventually met his smile.
"Third cabinet to the left."
"Seriouly? YES!" He jumped up and inspected the cabinet.
"I just know this is going to end badly!" She said, glancing at him.
"Have a little faith Ang!"
Five fire whiskey shots, three spell books and a parchment full of ideas later – they finally had something to go on.
"So we have the somnium spell that will induce the delirious dream like state but we still haven't figured out how to bring in the individuals deepest desires." Angelina said quickly jotting down their progress on yet another scroll of parchment. George took a sip of his wine and exhaled slouching on the back of the couch. He shot up, he pointed at her. The drastic change in movement made her jump.
"What is it?" Angelina said excited. George grunted.
"Urg.. I don't know. I can't remember the spell exactly." He stared at her as if she had the answer. "We learned about it in Binn's class when we were talking about the mirror of erised. Remember?" She gasped and George watched her eyes roll to the sides in contemplation.
"YES, that's it. It's the charm the guy did to make mirror reflect what the looker truly wanted…" She paused.
"Do you have it?" He asked anxiously
"SSHH I'm going to lose it." Angelina barked jokingly. George did a key locking motion in front of his mouth in agreement. 'What was that spell?' he thought. That must have been the one history of Magic lesson that everyone was interested in. He remembered that He, Fred and Lee had been obsessed with everything involving the mirror. They had spent weeks walking around the grounds, muarauders map in hand, in search of it. 'Come on George…it started with a –'
"APPETENTIA!" They shouted at the same time, laughing once they had realized what they had done.
"You know, it's amazing…Alicia always told us History of Magic would be of use one day." Angelina said pouring a set of shots into their glasses.
"Write down the spell first." George warned. She rolled her eyes and pointed to the parchment, where she had clearly already done it. George smirked and picked up his glass.
"Bottoms up!" There was a clanking of their cups and they shot it back. Angelina's mouth contorted and she shook her head, rejecting the taste.
"Pathetic!" George joked, staring at her unimpressed. She wasn't about to be mocked however. George watched her fill up her glass again. She took the shot like a champ, she didn't flinch but George also noticed she didn't move or speak.
"How you doing there, Ang?" He prodded. She nodded.
"Perfect." She sneered. He smiled at her.
"Fine, I take it back – you aren't pathetic. You just drink like a girl. Frankly, I'm unimpressed." She made to swat him on the arm but he caught her mid swing. "HA HA. You hit like one too!" She jerked her arm away.
"Apugno" She cast the spell before George could retaliate. Her potions five book hit him square in the chest and sent him toppling over. He burst into laughter.
"Fred told me you were quick to use your wand." George chimed.
"You Weasley's always push me…hmmm, don't you forget it." George opened the textbook and began pretending to be very productive. But as he was flipping through pages something jumped out at him. "Wait, Angelina, I think I actually found something. Remember when I said we needed a base." He opened the book and showed it to her. "Well I found the perfect potion to freeze, but we might need some help… there is no way we would be able to pull it off on our own – not to mention the ingredients."
"Wait, wait George slow down. What am I looking at?" She said vigorously scanning the page. He pointed to the potion he was talking about.
"It's a potion called the Euphoria Elixir. We did it in Snape's class our fifth year remember? It puts the drinker in a state of mellow false happiness. The damn thing was right hard to do. It was supposed to come out as yellow as a bloody canary and mine was closer to puke green." He chuckled at the memory. Angelina perked up.
"This is it George!" She shook his arm. "We brew the potion then cast the spells and we have a dreamscicle." Angelina's eyes were wide with delight. George thought it was a little pre-mature, after all they hadn't the ingredients or the skill for such a potion.
Angelina took the book and went into the next room. He heard clanks and the sound of glass crashing into each other. He was about to go check on her but soon enough she returned with a brown box full of objects George couldn't fully see. It looked like there was a cauldron resting on the top though.
"Angelina, what exactly do you think you're doing?" George asked, taking a closer look at the box and finding that there were potion ingredients inside. "And where did you get all that stuff?"
"I got it from my potion cupboard, obviously." She said, tentatively setting out all the ingredients and consulting the potions book. George was taken aback.
"YOU have a potions cupboard?"
"Yes!" She replied as if it were obvious. She lifted her head from the book and saw the dumbfounded expression on his face. "George - I'm good at potions."
"Since when?" he said doubtfully. She narrowed her eyes condescendingly.
"Since always you thick git. I got top marks in Snape's class all seven years and received Outstandings on both my OWLs and NEWTs. Actually, the only time I got a low mark in potions was the day Snape found out I was dating Fred, he said he took points off for lack of judgment."
"What?! You've been this potions prodigy this whole time, how did I miss that?" George replied gawking at her.
"ooh something escaped your keen eye – I am so shocked." She sarcastically mused then giggled. "I'm sorry, that was harsh."
"Yeah Ang, Geez!" George shoved her in the arm.
"Well, you kind of deserved it. I DID work in a potions lab before the shop. I would think you could put two and two together"
"Hmm… You're a bit of a nerd aren't you Angelina?" He pestered. She rolled her eyes and passed him a bowl with green leaves in it.
"Will you please be useful and crush the peppermint?" George looked at the book.
"Hey miss potions master, there's not even peppermint in this potion." He sang matter a fact.
"The peppermint prevents the potion's side effects. The draft sans peppermint can result in the drinker spontaneously bursting into song as if they were about to appear on the London stage."
"Wicked!" George beamed. He watched her as she worked.
"Shrivelfig, porcupine quills, Sopophorous beans" she muttered to herself as she brewed. Maybe the drink was getting to him, but there was something so intoxicating about watching her. He had only ever seen her this serious about something on the quidditch pitch. He smiled down at her.
"What?" she said, it startled him.
"Oh…nothing, you're just obviously not drunk enough if you can concentrate this much." He said, covering up his blatant staring. She hid her face from him.
"Actually, I put a magical delay on the shot glasses it shouldn't really hit us for another 10 minutes or so." George stopped crushing the leaves gaped at her.
"You are an absolute cheater! As soon as this potion is finished you are going down Johnson!" George said darkly.
"Ooh I'm scared." She replied, adding the last ingredient and it stirring clockwise six times. "Ok it's complete, now it just has to sit for a day."
"GREAT, now it's time to celebrate!" George stood up to go get the absinth he distinctly remembered seeing in the cabinet. As he stood, the delay broke, he held on to the kitchen counter for balance. It wasn't only him, Angelina had just managed to clear up the potions ingredients when she stumbled on her coffee table.
"Oops" She said laughing "spells broken." She smiled mischievously. George joined her with two large glasses full of absinth, sugar and water.
"Key Johnson, here's how the game works; we both drink until the first person concedes. Ready. Set. Go!" The two drank, George immediately regretted the challenge but didn't dare say so. He eyed Angelina over the side of his glass, she started to cough and spilled some of the green liquid on the carpet!"
"I win!" George burst but the room had begun to spin 'how odd, why is the room spinning', he thought.
"Oh… shit! Katie is going to kill me for spilling on the brand new carpet" Angelina said very animated. She poked out her lower lip and put her hands on her cheeks.
"Hey, where is she anyway? It's like…" George looked around for a clock but couldn't find one within his ever blurring sightline. "Very late," he finished. She smiled inwardly.
"She's out… with Lee! They – went to his parent's for dinner." She irrupted in giggles.
"No they did not! Are they still just friends?" George asked. She nodded her head, laughing ever harder. "Can't they just admit they're in love already?" George said, laughing because he reminded himself of Alicia. Angelina stared into the ceiling longingly.
"I know right!" she hopped up and almost fell onto George's lap. "I need to show you something!" When she came back in the room she was holding a big purple photo album. "Look at this picture of us all at the Yule ball. It's when Lee and Alicia first got together – it's just so darn cute!" George stared at Fred wrapping his arms around Angelina in the picture and found it hard to form the words he wanted to say. He closed the book. Angelina put her hand to her mouth.
"Oh, I'm such an idiot!" She paused for a response, he wasn't angry but he couldn't seem to give one. "We were having a fun time and I've gone and made it sad." She said gloomily, George couldn't help but laugh. She looked so innocent and helpless in her guilt.
"Buck up buttercup, all is well!" He said, lightly punching her in the shoulder. She snickered then stared at him. She absentmindedly ran her hands through his long, red hair.
"You're wearing your hair long like in the picture!" She gave him a knowing sideways glance. "Is that to cover up your ear hole?" George chuckled.
"Yeah, it tends to make people feel unconformable." He said shyly. Angelina moved away from him, looking him up and down – appraising. She reached up and traced her fingers around the skin where his ear used to be. Their eye's met and she shook her head slowly. George's chest began to rise and fall noticeably faster.
"No, scars are sexy!" She said with a flirtatious head nod, something lurched in the pit of George's stomach. "Fluuerrr always talks about it! oh Anseleeena arrent mi hosbund's wahr woonds so sexy lalala" Angelina impersonated Fluer, talking about Bill. George didn't want to laugh but he had to. "UGH I HATE FlUER!" Angelina yelled, laughing.
"Really? I couldn't tell." George retorted, "What did she even do to you?"
"Bitch stole my boyfriend!" She said narrowing her eyes.
"Oh yeah… Fred told me about that. He was ready to kill Roger Davies." George said remembering. Angelina smiled proudly to herself. "Poor chap he didn't really have a choice, she's a courter Veela."
"Oh please. There is always a choice when it comes to hurting the ones you love – or the one you're supposed to love." She leaned against the couch and stared off into the distance. "You know, Fred was supposed be my distraction date so that I wouldn't have be upset about flwhore and Roger going together." She snickered, pleased with herself. "It was working too until we saw them snogging outside. Fred and I were so upset we got drunk off the punch you all spiked." George laughed a hardy laugh.
"All that time and you still can't hold your alcohol!" He teased, she jabbed him in his side.
"Shut the fuck up George, you're not looking to hot yourself."
"That was the first night you guys hooked up wasn't it?" George said, changing the subject. She nodded.
"Yeah, liquid courage and all that. I think we would have gone all the way if –"
"Gone all the way" George snorted "What are you five? You are a grown woman, come on let's use our grownup words." He pinched her on the cheek and she swatted his hand away.
"OK, we almost fucked!" She sneered at him. "We probably would have if we hadn't been so drunk and exhausted. But then again we would have never been brave enough to make that step if we weren't – and we called ourselves Gryffindors!" She sighed and something about her face changed, she was still innocent but there was something lost and vulnerable mixed with it now instead of drunken bliss. That and an eerie solemnness to her tone made George hang on to every word. "We spent, well mostly I spent, so much time trying to convince myself the feelings I had for him weren't real. I wasted so much time." A tear swelled in her eye. "How could I have wasted so much time?"
George wrapped an arm around her and she exhaled. She laid down on his lab and curled up into a comfortable ball. George watched her for a second, a thought tugged at the back of his brain but he was having trouble formulating it in his current inebriation. George began to softly comb through her curls with his fingers. Angelina stiffened.
"Oh. I'm sorry" George said, hastily removing his hand.
"No, it's OK. I mean Fred used to do that." She took his hand and guided it back to her hair. It seemed like less than a minute before she had fallen asleep on his lab. George slowly rested his head on the couch cushion behind him, carful not to wake her. He, too, began drift off but just before sleep took him, the thought popped fully formed into his head. He looked down at Angelina, surrounded by all of Fred forgotten things and thought 'she was left behind too.'
"You are the living memory of him." He said to her even though he knew she couldn't hear, then he fell asleep.
"Hey Guys! Wake up, it's like three in the morning!" George woke in a daze, it took him a second before a very blurry Katie came to view. Angelina got up from his lap and stared at Katie confused.
"Katie, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with … Lee?" Angelina said pouting, she came close to Katie "I had visions of unmentionables happening in the Jordan family home." Angelina giggled.
"What a lovely sentiment dear. How much did she have to drink George?" but he was drifting off to sleep again. "GEORGE," She snapped fingers in front of his face. He jolted awake.
"Yes!" she recoiled from the smell of alcohol on his breath.
"Never mind you just answered my question. George, I'm going to get her to bed. Wait here!"
"Are George and I having a sleepover?!" Angelina asked with a grin.
"Nope, I gotta apparate him back to Alicia!" George thought he heard a hard emphasis on his fiancé's name, but he just couldn't tell.
Author notes: Hey I hate to be this guy but PLEASE REVIEW! I haven't had much response to the story and I really want people to read and like it! Give me critics, how could I do better? Do you like the story? What don't you understand? Thanks all of you who are sticking with me, you're the best!
I will also be updating more frequently because my university is on summer break WOOOHOOO
